Moving Without Knowing
by KrisRide94
Summary: They're completely fucked. A zombie apocalypse has fallen over the country, leaving the citizens to fend for themselves. A group of teens with nowhere to turn leave Ohio for salvation. Or annihilation. The details have been rather fuzzy as of late. AU. Eventual - Faberry. Other pairings: Pinn, Brittana, Kum.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Moving Without Knowing  
**Pairing(s):** Eventual: Faberry, Brittana, Pinn, Kum  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Summary:** They're completely fucked. A zombie apocalypse has fallen over the country, leaving the citizens to fend for themselves. A group of teens with nowhere to turn leave Ohio for salvation. Or annihilation. The details are always fuzzy as of late.  
**Notes:** This is entirely AU, in case you couldn't tell. If there are any aspects of canon that I decide to keep in the story, I'll make note of it beforehand in this section.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

_1 May 2012_

Viral infection. Nothing to worry about, a viral infection that would clear up within a week, two at the absolute most. Non-threatening, shouldn't yield any further medical problems. Nothing to worry about. He thought maybe the doctors would like to get off their fucking high horses and explain to him why his skin felt like it was on fire, his fatigue had been growing exponentially for the past two days and he couldn't seem to keep any food down. Raw meat had become a particular craving and it sickened him, what kind of decent, functioning human being had cravings for raw meat?

The "infection" was fast acting, claiming the life of patient zero with startling efficiency. The particular chemicals of the infection filtered into the subject's brain, restoring neurotic functions and allowing the previously deceased subject basic motor functions once more. They were no more clumsy than the average human's, although the pallor of his skin, the glassiness of his eyes, the lack of ability to vocalize anything other than low groans should have clued any other life forms to the oddity of his condition. General self-preservation should have told them to keep away, to avoid a potential encounter with patient zero. These God given instincts failed to infallible kindness. By the end of the night and early morning, patient zero had bitten and infected several victims. The virus spread rapidly, transmitted through bites, and soon… the infection has spread.

News anchors referred to it as a "zombie apocalypse", citizens panicked and tried to flee. Within a month, only small pockets of civilians and small military units had survived the outbreak to date.

Hope was the only thing worth holding onto. If only its brother misery didn't follow so close behind.

…

_1 June 2012 – Lima, Ohio_

Orphaned at seventeen. Eighteen in certain cases, but the point was moot. The four of them had woken up to destruction. Overturned cars, smoking with the remnants of angry flames long dispersed, neighbors gone, in some cases with their things missing as well, an indication that they'd fled of their own free will. None of them, aside from Noah, had been home yet, as they had all spent the night at the Puckerman house.

Rachel observed the scene outside with a soft frown and an increasingly irritated countenance, "When are we going to get out of here?" She called, turning to flash a glance towards the kitchen, where her friends and cousin were milling about restlessly as they tried to come up with well thought out plans with which to execute and search their respective houses.

Noah poked his head around the corner, studying his cousin with a vague frown. He was worried, terrified, really. The infection had finally reached Lima, with little warning and no prompting to any of them; they'd woken up and it was a scene straight out of a Resident Evil movie, except they were ill equipped to deal with this situation. They were kids. He'd always hated it when his mother, or uncle Hiram had given them that excuse when they were being forbidden from doing something, but Noah was painfully aware in that moment just how young they were.

How the hell were they supposed to deal with this? He had no idea. He needed to figure something out; the fear clawing at his belly was starting to make him nauseous and every ten seconds he wanted to shout at Rachel to get away from the fucking window before she got attacked by one of those zombies, or creatures, or whatever the fuck they were supposed to call them. The undead seemed like a decent enough moniker, but he was still so afraid to consider the possibility that they were surrounded by undead creatures, hell bent on eating them for no other purpose than they were perfectly capable of doing so.

"R-rach." He cleared his throat to rid his voice of the tremulous note it had adopted, "Come in here, will ya? Get away from the window."

Rachel observed his command with a mocking salute and a half smirk, he rolled his eyes, they might've been the same age, but Rachel was generally so much more mature than he had ever been. Unless he was telling her what to do, she had a generally defiant personality when he tried to give her orders. Although he knew she was kidding most of the time, he didn't appreciate the cheekiness at the moment. "Seriously, Rach. Come on." He grumbled, flushing lightly when she leaned up to kiss his cheek and murmur an apology as she passed him.

He followed her into the kitchen and leaned against the counter as she hopped up to sit on it. Their best friends, Santana and Sam, stared back at them silently. None of them had a clue what they were to be doing and each of them needed to return home to either gather supplies or check on their families, if they had survived.

Rachel glanced at them worriedly, "Did your parents…?" She trailed off, she might have been abrasive at the best of times with everyone else, but she was gentle, calm, relaxed with her friends. The last thing she wanted to do was upset them.

Sam shook his head wordlessly, pressing his palms against his eyes to fight back the sudden urge to cry and scream and lash out at everything around them. Santana only met her eyes with a sad half smile and Rachel had received all the answers she needed. Their families were gone. Wiped out. They had no reason to remain in Lima, so they wouldn't.

"We need to leave then. As soon as we can." Rachel said plainly, she might have been the youngest, but she adopted the role of leader with a seamless confidence that generally left most people in awe.

The diminutive young woman ran a hand through her hair and held it there for a moment as she thought, "Sam, we'll go to your house first. Pick up your truck and any guns, or ammunition, or supplies of any nature we can get out. Then to San's, so we can collect medical supplies. My parents have a gun safe, and a stash of random first aid things, so we'll stop there last, get food and a map. Then we leave town, head west, maybe. Towards the coast." She exhaled slowly and observed the others, her dark eyes hard and determined, "Does that work for everyone?"

Noah nodded simply; sharing a brief look with the others before he nodded again, that seemed like the most logical plan. All they had to do now was manage to execute it. How hard could it really be?

…

_1 June 2012 – Muncie, Indiana _

"Quinn! Where'd you go?"

A low groan in response and a disheveled head of blonde hair poked out from under a pile of blankets, bleary hazel eyes made their appearance and Quinn blinked several times to focus on the grinning face of her best friend in the world, Finn Christopher Hudson. She stared at him for a long moment before she reached up to smack the back of his head roughly, prompting an irritated yelp from the younger boy.

"Ow! What the fuck, man?" Finn grumbled, rubbing the back of his head with an affronted pout.

Quinn cracked a smile and kissed his nose gently in apology, "You know I hate it when you wake me up early, we've already been on the road for days, Finn. I'm tired." She replied quietly.

Finn nodded, his dark eyes expressively apologetic, "Sorry, food's on. Kurt wanted me to tell you." He explained with a sheepish expression.

The blonde grinned again and slid out of bed; she was clad in her underwear and didn't even bother telling Finn to look away as she threw on an old t-shirt and a pair of faded and ripped skinny jeans. They'd been best friends since they were children, and seeing one another in their underwear phased them just about as much as the sight of a zombie did, which was to say: not at all. She hugged him happily when she turned to head out of her room, laughing raucously when he picked her up easily and toted her down the stairs bridal style, laughing the entire way.

"Morning, everyone!" Quinn greeted with a grin as Finn set her down gently in the kitchen and Kurt flashed them an amused look while Brittany giggled and greeted both of them with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Quinn ambled into the living room as Kurt started to serve their breakfast, they had temporary security cameras set up, and they'd been in Muncie since the previous day after having vacated their hometown in New York. The perimeter around the home was currently clear, although the undead that milled around the property had tripped off the outer motion sensors several times during the night. Luckily, they never seemed too keen to attempt an assault on their current place of residence, which was nothing short of relieving to the teens inside. They liked to reserve their encounters with the zombies for instances when they had to go into town to gather supplies and things. Those were usually quick and painless, for the most part, and the undead tended to linger in the conflict area long enough to give them a reprieve when they finally returned to their home base.

"Any distress calls today?" She asked curiously, glancing at Finn and Brittany, who usually took turns manning the radio, with varying results.

"Not yet. It's still early though, Q." Brittany replied quietly, her normally cheerful expression replaced by one that was equal parts worry and fear.

Quinn nodded and kissed the other girl's cheek softly, "I know, B. We'll just keep an eye out then."

Brittany nodded simply and sat down to eat breakfast without another word; things were quite calm this morning. They could only hope that would last just a little longer.

…

_Lima, Ohio – Afternoon, 1 June - Sam's house_

Sam's white knuckled grip on the baseball bat in his hands made the tendons bulge in a manner that was rather frightening to Rachel, who was following the blonde boy with a loaded pistol held at her side. They were searching Sam's home first, for weapons and supplies to assist them on their journey. Unfortunately, they had no idea whether any of the infected were inside, so they were taking precautions, especially considering it was only the two of them. Noah and Santana were off at Santana's home, and they would all meet up at Rachel's before they left, within the designated amount of time.

Rachel scanned the interior of the home with wary eyes as Sam met her gaze briefly and headed off in the direction of the bedrooms, prompting her to follow without another thought. She listened intently, hoping, praying to whatever deity felt like listening that they would not hear anything. That there would be no signs of a struggle and above all, that none of Sam's family members would be lingering if they had already been killed by the undead hoard that had infiltrated Lima. A sudden crash made them tense, nerves vibrating like live wires, shuttering excuses for breaths escaped their lips with frightening frequency and they padded ahead haltingly, like frightened prey attempting to face predators head on. A low moan erupted from one of the bedrooms and a sudden screech of skin against wood was the only measure of Sam's ever tightening grip that she registered.

He reached for the first door knob, where the noise had issued from, his hand was trembling. A quick twist of his wrist and the door was opened a fraction, he tapped his toe against it until it started to creak open. A sick feeling settled over Sam, his body began to numb and his already impossibly tight grip on the bat seemed to tighten even further at the sight of his father, gnawing on a human bone.

"Yo, pops!" Sam shouted, his voice was level and cold. Detached in a way that Rachel had never heard before.

The zombie's attention was immediately on them and he staggered to his feet with another groan, lumbering towards Sam, who had already fallen into a batting stance. "Batter up, fucker." He growled, tensing and swinging with all his might when the newly undead man neared them.

The collision was violent, sending blood and brain matter splattering every surface within range, including their faces. Sam dropped the bat and lurched over, trembling violently and holding a hand to his mouth shakily for several minutes before he straightened and looked at Rachel with bloodshot eyes.

"Let's keep going." He rasped softly, retrieving his bat wordlessly and pushing past her gently, proceeding down the hall and into the other bedrooms.

The rest of the Evans family was nowhere to be found and they avoided any other encounters with the undead, gathering guns and ammunition from the gun safe in the basement and canned food from the kitchen before they loaded it into Sam's truck and climbed in themselves. Sam jammed the key into the ignition and sat there quietly for a long moment before his jaw clenched and his lower lip trembled, tears leaking out of his eyes a moment later. Rachel reached over and pulled him into a hug immediately as sobs wracked his body. He cried as quietly as he could, anguished whimpers about being a murderer and killing his father were clear every once in a while and when his sobs finally faded to hiccups and disappeared completely, Rachel cradled his face in her hands and wiped his tears away gingerly.

"That wasn't your dad anymore, Sammy. You know that. I know you do. It's going to be okay, you hear me? We're your family now, and you're ours. Understand that?" She murmured soothingly.

Sam nodded and kissed her cheek softly, "I know, Rach. I know." He cleared his throat, "Your house now?"

She nodded simply.

…

_Late afternoon, 1 June - Rachel's house_

"We about ready to head out, tiny?" Santana asked softly as they milled around the vehicles they would be traveling with for the foreseeable future.

Rachel nodded, "Yeah, we're good to go. I just have to go get the map real quick, and then we can head out."

She trotted back into her home, casting one final glance around before she retrieved the map from the kitchen counter and returned to her friends. Noah sighed lowly as she did, "Well, guess this is good bye, Lima."

They chuckled wryly, "Good bye, Lima."

The only sounds that accompanied their departure were the groans of the undead and a sudden argument over the radio station. Nothing they hadn't heard before.

…

_Early afternoon, 2 June; Muncie, Indiana_

"…help…please…come in… please…"

The radio's disjointed crackling sent them into action and Quinn fiddled with the dial hurriedly for several tense moments before the transmission started to clear up.

"Small convoy located in downtown Muncie, near the grocery store. Surrounded, low on ammo. Is anyone in the area? Send help please. Is anyone there?"

Quinn cleared her throat, "We'll be there in ten minutes. Can you hold out?"

"We'll manage. Please, hurry."

"Will do."

Quinn stood abruptly and glanced at the others with a serious expression, a smirk graced her lips after a moment, "Let's lock and load."


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** Moving Without Knowing  
**Pairing(s):** Eventual: Faberry, Brittana, Pinn, Kum  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Summary:** They're completely fucked. A zombie apocalypse has fallen over the country, leaving the citizens to fend for themselves. A group of teens with nowhere to turn leave Ohio for salvation. Or annihilation. The details are always fuzzy as of late.  
**Notes:** This is entirely AU, in case you couldn't tell. If there are any aspects of canon that I decide to keep in the story, I'll make note of it beforehand in this section.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

_Early afternoon, 2 June; Muncie, Indiana_

The scene downtown wasn't anything they weren't accustomed to, the zombie population congregated downtown, mostly in the intersection between the bank and the grocery store, clamoring to gain entrance into a a pair of vehicles parked smack dab in the middle of said intersection. The only audible sounds were the impatient groans of the zombies and intermittent gun fire coming from within the vehicles. Quinn readjusted her grip on the pistol in her hand and studied the others briefly, meeting their eyes with a determined expression.

"They're going down easy as it is, take everything out, make sure the people in the cars are safe. Got it?" Quinn relayed quietly, quirking an eyebrow.

The others nodded and stepped out of the car, drawing attention to themselves with the loud crack of a rifle that sent a bullet straight through the forehead of one of the zombies closest to the car, Kurt smirked lightly and readied his rifle again, nodding to the others to indicate he would provide covering fire while they moved in closer. Quinn nodded shortly and held the pistol in front of her readily, heading towards the horde with a steady, unfaltering tread as Finn followed her, dropping back halfway there to make use of the rifle in his hands as Brittany followed her closely, clutching a pair of long knives that she was frighteningly apt at handling. Cracks of the rifles behind them were drowned out shortly as a soft static seemed to inhibit Quinn's auditory function as she methodically picked off every member of the horde directly around the SUV. Allowing those still trapped within the car to retaliate on their own.

Gun fire, low grunts, and raucous moans were the only sounds that accompanied the area for the next several minutes, it wasn't frantic, as the horde was rather small in comparison to others they'd encountered and within ten minutes, Quinn and the rest of her makeshift family were stepping over the corpses swiftly, pausing as the occupants of the SUV left their temporary shelter to confront them. Predatory hazel eyes scanned each of them critically, taking note of their features and general disposition.

There was a tall, dark haired boy, with rather unkempt hair styled into a messy mohawk - his eyes were dark, like coals, burning a hole in each of them as he took a protective step in front of the small young woman to his left. Quinn met the eyes of the young woman and swallowed roughly, finding her mouth to have gone conspicuously dry without warning. _Fuck, Fabray. Get your shit together._ The smaller girl had the same dark eyes as the boy to her right - _related?_ - with dark hair that was matted with sweat and God knows what else, she was also rather short, but the fierce expression she was sporting was definitely keeping Quinn from underestimating her. Hell, the expression alone was keeping her from even entertaining the thought.

Next to her was a lanky blonde boy, nearly as tall as the mohawked young man. The blonde boy was clutching a pistol in one hand, half pointing it towards them, but keeping it towards the ground. They'd obviously encountered a fair bit of trouble before arriving in the little Podunk area that Muncie offered them. Finally, next to the blonde boy, was a young Latina with one of the most fierce near snarls on her features. Quinn took a short breath and looked back at her friends, nodding slightly. There was no reason to begin a pointless confrontation, they were not threatening one another.

"Are you all alright? No serious wounds?" Quinn spoke up after a moment, her soft rasp travelling across the open space with all the concern of a lioness protecting her pride. If there was one thing they could say about Quinn post-apocalypse, she had become a protector, and a fierce one at that.

The small girl shook her head, "Nothing terribly pressing. Thank you. For helping us... I'm -" The mohawked boy stopped her with a squeeze to her wrist and a pointed look, which only prompted the small girl to roll her eyes and a soft smirk from Quinn.

"I'm _Rachel_." She introduced herself with particular emphasis, rolling her eyes at the taller boy again.

Quinn smirked again, "Nice to meet you, _Rachel_." She placed the same emphasis on the brunette's name, winking playfully and fighting back a grin when the small girl flushed lightly.

"My name is Quinn." The blonde informed all of them simply, "This is Kurt. Finn. And Brittany. We live on a property outside the city. You're welcome to come with us, we're there indefinitely."

Rachel nodded slowly, "This is Noah-" Another pointed look. "_Puck_. Sam. And Santana. I think we'd be very happy to take you up on that offer." She made a broad gesture to the carnage around them, "After all this shit, I think it'd be good."

Quinn laughed lowly, "If that thing still runs, just follow us, yeah?"

Puck nodded sharply and wrapped an arm around Rachel's shoulders protectively as they turned to get back in their vehicle, Quinn smirked slightly and turned towards her friends, "Well, back home guys." She informed them with a grin. It had been a successful mission overall, something to be celebrated, as they'd actually managed to rescue those who'd placed the distress call. Their last few attempts had not been so successful, and they'd always either gotten there far too late, or been completely overwhelmed by the number of undead and forced to retreat entirely. It was frustrating, to say the least, as they were starting to crave the contact of other people. Well, living people. The fact that they had to qualify that at all was rather frustrating.

They piled into their SUV again and scanned the area one last time, it was the most annoying thing to clear a horde only to have stragglers follow them home and make it incredibly difficult for them to sleep through the night, as they were half convinced one of the zombies would make it past their security measures and eat their faces. At least, that was Finn's current theory. The drive back to their home was a short one, spent in silence aside from Finn's occasional whistling and Brittany's absent comments about anything and everything that were guaranteed to leave them in stitches for several minutes at a time. Quinn hopped out of the SUV quietly, tilting her head back to look at their new additions and waving slightly, feeling a grin curl her lips upwards just so. It wasn't often that they managed to bring people home, so she was pretty much elated. Not to the point where she was little kid in a candy store excited, but pretty close.

"If you'll just follow me, I can show you around before dinner." Quinn called simply, still unable to keep the grin off her face.

She headed for the house without another word, smiling softly at her friends as they went to busy themselves with dinner preparations as she handled the guided tour. She waited in the entry way, leaning against the door jamb lazily and raising her Ray Bans to study the others as they meandered toward her, peering around curiously as they did so. "Nice place, huh?" She asked playfully.

The blonde boy, Sam, laughed softly, "Nicer than we've seen in a while." He admitted honestly, running a hand through his hair lazily. "We haven't been here very long either, so I know what you mean. Where are you guys from?" Quinn tilted her head curiously, tapping her fingers against the door frame lightly.

"Ohio, we're from Ohio. You?" Rachel replied simply.

Quinn grinned lightly, "New York. Not the city itself, but close." She answered easily, turning around and heading into the house after a short moment. The whole tour took ten minutes, Quinn was absolutely famished and in the wake of that, she could really give a shit less about being a good hostess. Which would have absolutely horrified her parents before all this, of that she was certain.

"You guys think you might like to join us? I mean, as a whole. We're camping out here for a few more days, to gather supplies and things. After that... we're heading West." Finn asked when they reentered the main room.

Quinn chuckled, her best friend had never been all that patient, with anything and she wasn't all that surprised that he had posed the question so early. She was, however, entirely intrigued as to how they might answer. She herself knew she wouldn't mind getting to know them... well, if them was code for Rachel, then that was an accurate statement. She'd never been particularly shy about feelings of the romantic nature, but she didn't feel any compulsion to act on her apparent attraction. She wasn't even sure how that would go over: _Hey, I know we just met, but I wanna bone you. Is that cool? Oh my fucking God, Fabray. Stop thinking. You moron. _

"We'll join you, sure. Strength in numbers and all that, right?" Rachel replied easily, prompting what might have been the biggest shit eating grin ever to appear on Quinn's face. The sight of it made Finn snicker before she pulled a straight face and kicked him in the ankle as she walked by.

"Well, welcome to the family."


	3. Chapter 3

**Title:** Moving Without Knowing  
**Pairing(s):** Eventual: Faberry, Brittana, Pinn, Kum  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Summary:** They're completely fucked. A zombie apocalypse has fallen over the country, leaving the citizens to fend for themselves. A group of teens with nowhere to turn leave Ohio for salvation. Or annihilation. The details are always fuzzy as of late.  
**Notes:** This is entirely AU, in case you couldn't tell. If there are any aspects of canon that I decide to keep in the story, I'll make note of it beforehand in this section.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

_Early morning, 4 June; Muncie, Indiana_

Surprisingly, it didn't take long for the eight of them to adjust to living in such a large group - some of them, in the cases of Santana and Brittany as well Puck and Finn seemed to bond instantly, spending a majority of their time together. That wasn't to say that none of the others had bonded to that level, it was just that those bonds were being cultivated slightly more slowly. Puck most often joked that it was just "natural chemistry" or something of the sort - although he usually made that statement in a casually crass manner that made them all either laugh or cringe; sometimes both, depending on the particular situation.

Currently, it was almost too early for anyone within the house to be stirring into consciousness, but Santana found herself unable to sleep and she'd settled for busying herself by making coffee - a luxury that had already been in the house before even Quinn and the others had arrived - it was a godsend as far as Santana was concerned and she needed it to get her head on straight. It was weird, for lack of a better word, for her to adjust to the absence of her family. She scrolled through her cell phone contacts to call her house phone - or her dad's cell phone or her mom's office phone... anything to be able to hear their voices again for just a few moments. A small part of her thought that was just a little pathetic, but the rest of her rationalized that it wasn't at all out of the ordinary. Her parents were... well, to put it delicately, they'd moved on and that had caused her immense grief the first night or two of their travels. Forcing her to curl up with Sam or Rachel or Puck depending on their sleeping schedules just to try and avoid the nightmares.

She sighed lowly and ran a hand through her hair as the coffee machine beeped and she set about making herself a cup of coffee - starting suddenly as a hand appeared in her line of vision to retrieve a Donald Duck coffee cup from the shelf directly in front of her. She turned carefully, cradling her coffee carefully and smiling sheepishly at Brittany, who flashed her a gentle, vaguely embarrassed half smirk in return. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you..." Brittany murmured in lieu of greeting, moving around Santana to make her own coffee.

Santana grinned slightly and waved her hand dismissively, "I wasn't scared, Britt, don't even worry about it." She replied softly, flushing when Brittany giggled and bumped their hips playfully, "You're a really crappy liar, San. You jumped and everything." The brunette rolled her eyes and not to act anywhere near as embarrassed as she felt at the moment, "Okay, fine. Maybe I did, it's not a big deal." A laugh and a wink was all she received in return, "Mhm, I know. You're the one getting defensive." Brittany teased with a smile.

The taller young woman continued to chuckle softly as she finished preparing her coffee and Santana took the first sip of her own, rolling her eyes at the teasing but smiling all the same. She had an easy relationship with Brittany, almost like the kind she had with Rachel. Almost being the operative word considering Santana was very much aware she was attracted to Brittany whereas she was no longer attracted to Rachel in any way, shape, or form - that ship had sailed long ago and neither of them had any issue with being the 'practically-attached-at-the-hip' best friends that they were and generally always had been. Either way, she'd never been a particularly social person - popular, sure - willing to go hang out with the "popular crowd" - absolutely; but just plain social? That had never been a word Santana would use to describe herself. She was abrasive, sometimes violent, crass - on the one hand; on the other, she was fiercely loyal, kind, and protective towards the people she chose to allow close to her.

It just took a little time to wrap her head around the fact that she'd allowed Brittany to become one of those people within the span of a few days. "So where is it we're headed today, Britt-Britt? Quinn said something about a little city not that far away from here but that basically translates to BFE 2.0 as far as I'm concerned. I don't speak WASP."

Brittany furrowed her brows slightly in confusion, "Does that mean you speak bee...? Those are different, so..." She trailed off and paused for a moment before she shook her head and took a drink, "We decided to head to New Castle... it's not really the closest city but it's small..." She hummed in thought, scrunching her nose as if she was trying to recall some deep thought, "The zombies, or zomboids - Finn likes to call them that sometimes, they apparently don't like little cities as much. So we'll try to avoid Indianapolis unless we're really in trouble for like... food and stuff. I don't know if we're going to Kentucky or Illinois yet but like, we have time to figure that out."

Santana nodded slightly and smiled, "Either way, B. We'll get out to the coast eventually and we probably won't know which way we can go until we're about to make the decision. At least, that's how it's been working out so far." She shrugged slightly, "That's how we got here, after all. And I'm pretty damn glad we found you guys." She continued without much thought, flushing lightly and looking away as the words sunk in. Brittany giggled softly and kissed Santana's cheek softly before she sauntered out of the room, calling back to Santana with an inquiry about what in their shared bedroom might be worth packing.

...

_Early evening, 4 June; Summit Lake State Park_

"I say we hang out here for the night!" Puck declared as they stepped out of their respective vehicles for a moment - simply to survey the area. They'd been travelling almost the entire day, and were particularly keen on finding a spot to rest as soon as they possibly could - there was no way they were going to make it to New Castle on little sleep and even thinner patience. It wasn't as though the trip was supposed to have taken so long but they'd run into trouble almost every step of the way. From cars blocking the high way and hoards roaming the back roads, they'd practically had to fight tooth and nail to get as far as they had. If the park grounds sufficed, none of them had any trouble staying but it would be Quinn and Rachel - who had eventually been dubbed the joint leaders of their operation - who would make the final call.

"What d'you think, Rach? Crash here... or keep going?" Quinn asked softly as she sidled up next to Rachel, leaning against the SUV with an aura of nonchalance that Rachel found rather amusing. "Well... if we drive a little further, into the tree cover, that could be a beneficial resting point. There's probably not cabins or anything of the sort but we can sleep in the cars if we have to... I say we stay. Unless you'd rather just bite the bullet and make the drive. Without all this BS, it's another twenty minutes. With it... we could be out for an hour at the least."

Quinn nodded slightly and tugged her bottom lip between her teeth as she thought, smirking lightly when she caught Rachel's focused gaze at the little quirk, "I say we set up camp here for the night. Or a few hours, at the very least. It's starting to get dark and it's a hell of a lot harder to navigate once that happens, so..." She trailed off without another word and the smaller girl nodded her understanding, "Got it." She cleared her throat quickly, "We're holding out here! Let's drive a little further into cover first, then we'll set up guard shifts!" Rachel called out simply, smiling softly when the others sprang into action with no complaint. They had become something of a well oiled machine as of late, and for that, she was immensely grateful.

When they had settled far enough into the forested area to satisfy Rachel, the eight of them set about settling into their usual sleeping arrangements - Brittany and Santana settled in the middle row of Quinn's SUV, Rachel and Quinn settled in the back; then Kurt and Sam in the back seat of Sam's pick up, and Finn and Puck in the back seat of Puck's car. They were the same arrangements for sleeping they'd had in Muncie, with the obvious lack of bedrooms and far less personal space between them, not that they really minded either way.

"Finally found a warmer blanket." Quinn murmured as she settled down on the seat with her back to one corner of the car door. Rachel settled between her legs - it saved space, at least, that was her frequent rationale when the others found them snuggled together after a nap earlier in the week. "Oh did you? Are you still going to be so tangled up you come out looking like Simba in the morning?" She asked teasingly, prompting an eye roll from the blonde. "Keep it up, Rach, and I'll start calling you Jewfasa when you have bed head." She grumbled good naturedly as she wrapped an arm around Rachel loosely and closed her eyes.

The diminutive girl pouted, "Quinn that's not very nice."

"Neither is you teasing me for _my_ bed head, Rach." Quinn replied with a chuckle, "Incentive to stop doing it though, isn't it?" Rachel hummed in thought, "It could be... we'll just have to see."

"Yeah, yeah. Just go to bed, short stack."

"Fine. 'Night, Gigantor."

...

_Mid morning, 5 June; New Castle, Indiana_

"Jesus Christ, this place is a ghost town." Santana blurted as they finally passed the cheerful sign welcoming them to New Castle. It was small, which they had been counting on; it was also the home of the largest high school gym anywhere in the States and they were sincerely hoping to find supplies being stored there, maybe even people willing to help them.

"Yeah, that's a pretty big understatement, San." Rachel commented quietly as she scanned the streets in front of them with a critical eye. "There doesn't seem to be much activity." Finn's voice crackled over the radio system and Quinn nodded, reaching for the two way radio she'd installed to be able to communicate with the others. "No, there really doesn't. That doesn't mean much though. Keep an eye out." She replied simply. It didn't do any of them any good to let their guard down, apparent emptiness or not, a hoard could be all over them before they had time to even blink and then they would be utterly fucked. Which was something Quinn definitely had on her "not to-do" list as of recently.

It took them no time at all to find the gymnasium and Quinn let out a shaky breath as she fingered the safety on her pistol - just to err on the side of caution, as the case was.

"Well... here it goes."


	4. Chapter 4

**Title:** Moving Without Knowing  
**Pairing(s):** Eventual: Faberry, Brittana, Pinn, Kum  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Summary:** They're completely fucked. A zombie apocalypse has fallen over the country, leaving the citizens to fend for themselves. A group of teens with nowhere to turn leave Ohio for salvation. Or annihilation. The details are always fuzzy as of late.  
**Notes:** This is entirely AU, in case you couldn't tell. If there are any aspects of canon that I decide to keep in the story, I'll make note of it beforehand in this section.

* * *

**Chapter 4**

_Mid morning, 5 June; New Castle, Indiana  
_

It was eerily quiet as they approached the structure slowly, eight pairs of eyes scanning the area with careful sweeps; none of them wanted to be the reason someone got their jugular torn out because of a misstep or a forgone glance, not that any of them were really trying to focus on the potential consequences of their lack of focus. There were a handful of vehicles scattered around them, one SUV with the door ripped clean off, a few with pillaged insides and more than were damaged beyond repair - all Quinn saw were fuel reservoirs. They were going to have a fair amount of collecting to do when they secured a few gas cans, but that was neither here nor there. Here, was making sure there wasn't a hoard lurking in the gymnasium. _Here_, was ensuring that not one of her friends - no, the only _family_ she had left - ended the day buried in the ground or burned on a pyre. She would be damned if she lost anyone when she could help it.

No one had spoken up by that point and they'd reached the gymnasium doors, if there was anything lurking around waiting for them, they weren't outside. Finn stepped forward and settled his hand into the groove that acted as a door handle, "Ready?" He asked softly, glancing back at the others as he waited tensely for a decision. Slowly but surely, gun barrels were leveled and steady nods were given before the burly boy edged the door open with the accompanying symphony of pounding hearts echoing around them.

Darkness. Silence - for only a moment - then, the sound they had been dreading to hear; the shuffling of feet headed toward them and their fingers twitched against the triggers; once, twice, sho- "Hey!" The shout startled them so badly there were several near misses as they each lowered their weapons and observed the figure standing in front of them - a lanky Asian boy with a slightly nervous smile, "There's no zombies in here specifically, no need to blow my face off." He announced calmly.

"None in here specifically? Where the hell are they then?" Puck piped up from the back of their posse and the boy scratched the back of his head quickly, "Well, there's a small hoard of 'em corralled a couple blocks away. We've been pickin' 'em off for a while now but they just keep coming, so we're storing supplies in the gym for a while - then we're gonna go on an all out assault and wipe them out before we get out of here. Good plan, yeah?"

Quinn nodded, "Sure, as good as any usually are." She paused for a short moment, "How many of you are there?" She asked quickly, it could be beneficial to help them out - if they did need it of course, perhaps it would result in something they needed and Quinn had found being shrewd in these situations tended to be best, not that it made her many friends.

"Well, my girlfriend and I - then a handful of other kids from the neighborhood, a couple adults. There's probably six of us." He explained, holding out his hand after a moment, "I'm Mike, by the way."

Quinn smiled, "Quinn, it's nice to meet you. Say, could you use some help clearing out the hoard? Maybe with a little added firepower you guys could be out of her within the next couple days." Mike studied her seriously for a long moment before he cracked another smile, "It's a deal, Q. I'll see if we can rustle up some provisions for you guys, okay? But first, maybe it's best you follow me back to home base." With that said, Mike pushed past them gently and ensured that the doors were locked behind him before he led them to a home that was only a block from the school itself, a modest looking place that seemed more than large enough for its six current occupants.

"Guys, I'm home! And I brought guests!" He called happily as he opened the door, allowing the eight of them to filter into the house before he entered behind them and immediately gravitated towards the side of a petite Asian girl, kissing her cheek in greeting before he faced them again. "So, this is Tina. And over there is Marley, Kitty, Joe, and Lexie. Then Carl and Emma. Guys, these are my new friends, I'll leave them to the introductions."

Quinn chuckled and made a grand sweeping motion, "Well, I'm Quinn. That's Finn, Brittany, Santana, Rachel, Noah - sorry, Puck, Sam and Kurt. Good to meet you all. We're here to help."

"With the... the zombie problem?" The younger girl with some of the brightest eyes Quinn had ever seen, Marley, spoke up timidly and Quinn smiled warmly in response, "Yeah, we're gonna help you guys get rid of them. Keep you safe longer." Marley nodded happily and flashed another slightly bashful smile in their direction before she turned her attention to the blonde at her side and initiated a quiet conversation that none of them could actually hear.

"So... how big is this hoard exactly? Can we at least see what we're workin' with?" Sam piped up after greetings and pleasantries had been exchanged, they wanted to help, but there was no way he felt comfortable going in blind to a situation that might potentially get him killed.

No one was that stupid.

...

_Late afternoon, 5 June; New Castle, Indiana_

After much discussion and planning, it had been decided that Kurt would take Emma, Marley, Kitty, Joe, Tina and Sam to the rooftops, leaving at least two people on each of the roofs in the immediate area, to provide long range support for the others - who would tackle the zombie threat from the ground. It was a well laid out plan by any standards and Quinn was confident it would work without any casualties. However, there was still a measurable level of tension in the air as they prepared themselves for the inevitable confrontation. The tension was almost to be expected at that point, it blanketed over everything with an annoying persistence that eventually faded to slightly less annoying normalcy - none of them particularly liked it, but what could they do? This was the world they lived in now, as fucked up as it was, it was home.

"We ready to rock n' roll, Q? Or do you guys need more time?" Mike's voice broke Quinn's thought process gently and she turned slightly to smile at the other boy before she exhaled sharply and nodded, "We're good to go, Mike." She replied simply, prompting a tight lipped yet hopeful smile from the Asian boy. With that said, she reached for the walkie talkie at her waist, "Kurt, get everyone ready. We're getting into position now." She commanded quietly. Kurt's voice crackled over the radio with a curt affirmative and Quinn immediately went to locate Rachel and Finn, whom would be her buddies for the situation, as the case was.

The zombies themselves seemed entirely nonplussed by their imminent demise and Quinn nearly rolled her eyes at her thoughts, because really? They were barely conscious in a manner that allowed them to do anything, let alone be aware of the fact that there were higher predators ready to blow their faces off with the twitch of a finger. "Ready?" Quinn whispered sharply, signalling to Kurt to prepare himself. A short pause - then -

"Now!"

The gunfire sounded immediately, sharp cracks that made Quinn's ears ring in a manner she was slowly but surely becoming familiar with. Her own guns became extensions of herself and she barely batted an eye as she sidestepped a lumbering figure and shoved her gun under its chin decisively before she pulled the trigger and stepped away before anything found its way onto her skin specifically. This continued for several minutes and she kept an eye out for Finn and Rachel, ensuring that they were holding their own as she held hers. Despite the love she felt for everyone in their little convoy, the love she shared for the two of them was far greater and she would be the first to admit it if questioned.

She lurched forward with a grunt as a fist struck the back of her head, quick as a whip she turned and drove her fist into the face of the creature who'd attacked her, repeating the gesture to get a point across before she bounded back and took a shot - falling right into the arms of yet another zombie. "Fuck." She swore sharply as she struggled against its hold, nearly retching as its fetid breath crept into her nostrils.

She struggled again, more violently, there was no fucking way she was getting offed by this goddamn thing and before she knew it the thing was being tackled off of her by Rachel. She watched almost helplessly as Rachel tumbled to the ground with the zombie, scrabbling to retrieve the knife strapped to her thigh - and then the zombie bared it's teeth and lunged - that's when Quinn's vision blurred crimson and shoved the barrel of her gun down the zombie's throat before she pulled the trigger. Rachel rolled off of it with a sigh of relief and Quinn immediately pulled her into a tight hug.

"Damn it, Rach. Don't do that ever again!" Quinn commanded, patting Rachel down thoroughly before Rachel rolled her eyes affectionately and took Quinn's hands gently, glancing around to ensure that things had finally died down before she smiled warmly, "Do what, save you?"

"You know that's not what I meant! I mean... don't... don't scare me like that! You could've gotten hurt!"

Rachel smirked slightly, "You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were worried, miss Fabray."

Quinn pouted, "This really isn't the time for jokes, Rach." This prompted a giggle from Rachel and earned the blonde a kiss on the cheek that left her face burning for what felt like an obscenely long time. "Let's go make sure everyone's okay."

"Looks like someone's blushing," Rachel sang playfully, nudging Quinn - who only blushed harder.

"Shut up, Rach."

...

_Early morning, 6 June; New Castle, Indiana_

"You guys sure you don't wanna stick around for a couple days?" Quinn's head poked out from behind the trunk of the SUV and she smiled at Mike warmly, "We're sure, Mike. We're just gonna take a little gas, and some supplies if you don't mind. So we can keep it moving."

The lanky boy nodded slowly and shrugged, "All of our supplies are in the gym, and we've been collecting them for a long time so you're welcome to whatever you need. As for gas," He paused and scratched his chin slowly as he thought, "The school buses will probably give you the most and there's a good little cache of 'em, if you wanna take fuel from like - half of 'em?" He suggested, mentally allotting how much fuel his own group would need to begin their journey.

Quinn lit up in surprise and hugged the boy quickly, "That sounds absolutely perfect. Thank you so much."

Mike laughed, "No problem at all, Q. Do you need any help collecting the stuff? Or are you good to go?" She smiled again, "We're good to go, Mike. Thank you for the offer though, I appreciate it."

"Again, not a problem. Not many people come through her anymore - and we can't take everything we've got so... who better to give some to than the people who are helping us get out?" He smiled and patted Quinn on the shoulder firmly, "Maybe we'll see you guys around. Later, Q."

"Bye, Mike!"

...

_Late afternoon, 6 June; Leaving New Castle, Indiana_

"Yo, Quinn! Where are we headed now, 'cause we've got options. The endgame is California, but there are a shit ton of ways to get there. Where are we going?" Finn asked curiously as they loaded the remainder of their supplies into Sam's pick up.

"That all depends on what you all want to do. We can go through Kentucky but if we don't want to waste time getting there, we have to go straight through Louisville to cross the state line and God only knows what's going to be waiting for us there. On the flip side, we could easily go through Illinois and be perfectly fine avoiding Chicago because it's on the coast and would be well out of the way. But those are the only two options I have right now, so I say again. It's up to everyone."

She paused briefly and observed the faces of her friends, "I guess this is the best way to phrase it, Kentucky or Illinois? We're going to have to go through big cities eventually and even some of the smaller ones could be worse, so we have to make a choice. Take our chances in Louisville now and get a huge pay off in supplies if we can make it through. Or go through Illinois and hit every small town we can find in a straight shot West. What's it going to be?"

The question seemed like an impossible choice, she was well aware of that. They either headed to Louisville where they operated on a high risk, high reward basis for the remainder of their travels by heading through areas of more dense population or they drove across Indiana and into Illinois - pilfering supplies for any small town they could find and hoping it would be enough to get them from point A to point B as it were. She sighed softly, being a leader was no walk in the park but she was determined to do the job as best she could.

"I vote Louisville." Finn announced calmly, "If we go through Illinois, sure, there are like, big cities and stuff but they're few and far between and we'd run out of supplies before we could even think of California. If we go through Kentucky, we follow the highways down into Tennessee and cut across the lower southern states and have a way better chance of survival. All we'd have to do was skirt around the big cities if we needed to and we'd be golden." He shrugged at the vaguely surprised glances he received.

"I've been thinking about it for a while." He explained simply.

Quinn nodded slightly as she considered his explanation, "I... I think Finn has a good idea, but I'm only okay with it if everyone's on board. So, is everyone on board?" She asked softly, nodding slowly as she received notions of agreement from everyone of them.

"Okay. Kentucky it is then. Let's get outta here."


End file.
